Proclaimer Blog
Is the Bible sufficient?
That's a rather pejorative question! Of course, we believe it is. But if the question is phrased slightly differently, we may find some diverging opinions. Is the Bible self-sufficient for its own understanding? In other words, do we need to go outside the Bible to understand the Bible correctly. We had an interesting time with John Dickson at one of our recent ministers conferences where we explored just this theme (the videos are shown below). More recently, it was the subject of a useful blog post from over the pond. I don't normally link to other posts, trying to avoid the constant merry-go-round where millions of bloggers all reference the same 10 blog posts. Nevertheless, this one from the Gospel Coalition is worth some time and thought. it specifically addresses whether outside information is needed in order to be able to understand the Bible correctly.
Connected to that is a second issue. Is the Bible sufficient for all of life? For what it's worth, the reason this second point is so controversial is, in part at least, due to a redefining of what we mean by sufficiency. We used to mean what the Westminster Shorter Catechism means: "The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man." In other words, the Scriptures are sufficient for a particular purpose. That has become, in certain circles, unhelpfully broadened so that Scripture becomes a straightjacket on matters of which it simply does not speak.